Fifteen Cents on the Dollar : How Americans Made the Black-White Wealth Gap by Louise Story, Ebony Reed

A sweeping, deeply researched narrative history of Black wealth and the economic discrimination embedded in America’s financial system through public and private actions that created today’s Black-white wealth gap. 

The early 2020s will long be known as a period of racial reflection. In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Americans of all backgrounds joined together in historic demonstrations in the streets, discussions in the workplace, and conversations at home about the financial gaps that remain between white and Black Americans. This deeply investigated book follows the lives of seven Black Americans of different economic levels, ages and professions during the three years following this period of racial reckoning.  

Drawing on intimate interviews with these individuals—three of whom are well known and four of whom most readers will learn about for the first time in the book—the authors bring data, research and history to life. Fifteen Cents on the Dollar shows the scores of set-backs that have held the Black-white wealth gap in place—from enslavement to redlining to banking discrimination—and ultimately, the set-backs that occurred in the mid-2020s as the push for racial equity became a polarized political debate.

Fifteen Cents on the Dollar is a comprehensive, deeply human look at Black-white wealth-gap history, told through the lives Black Americans as well as through the development of a new bank intended to help close the Black-white wealth gap. Seasoned journalist-academics Louise Story and Ebony Reed provide crucial insights on American economic equity, Black business ownership, and political and business practices that leave Black Americans behind. In chronicling how these staggering injustices came to be, they show how and why so little progress on the wealth gap has been made and provide insights Americans should consider if they want lasting change.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Louise Story is a prize-winning investigative journalist who has spent more than 15 years as a reporter and editor for the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, where she was the top masthead editor running coverage strategy. Her work investigating international corruption led to the largest kleptocracy case in U.S. history, a case she uncovered, known as the 1MDB case. Her work investigating Wall Street and the derivatives market led to a multi-billion dollar settlement. And her work investigating Goldman Sachs during the 2008 financial crisis led to that bank’s S.E.C. settlement. Numerous projects she has carried out or edited have received industry honors including Emmy Awards, and Pulitzer Prize finalist citations, and Online News Association awards. Louise is also a filmmaker, and her film The Kleptocrats aired on the BBC and is available on Apple and Amazon. She earned a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University and an M.B.A. as well as a B.A. in American Studies at Yale University. She was a visiting journalist at The Russell Sage Foundation while completing this book. She serves on the non-profit boards of The Prison Journalism Project and Community Word Project, and she teaches M.B.A. students at The Yale School of Management.

Ebony Reed began her career as a reporter at the Plain Dealer, covering Cleveland public schools, documenting public education’s inequities. The Investigative Reporters & Editors Association honored her examination of how social promotion impacted the district’s majority Black and brown students when teachers promoted students to the next grade, although they had not met state academic standards. At the Detroit News, she managed the local coverage of the 2008 financial crisis that crushed many families and had a lasting impact on Black families. In Boston, Ebony was a deputy bureau chief overseeing the regional operation in the six New England states. Ebony, now the Chief Strategy Officer at The Marshall Project, has held other roles in newsroom, administration and business operations with the Boston Business Journal, NPR’s Planet Money and the Wall Street Journal. She’s taught journalism and media classes at more than a half dozen colleges and universities. At the Yale School of Management, Ebony codesigned and co-teaches an MBA class. She’s also a board member of United WE, formerly named the Women’s Foundation of Kansas City, and resides in Kansas City, Missouri. Ebony has a bachelor degree in journalism, minor in Black studies and M.A. in media management from the Missouri School of Journalism. 

Published ‏ : ‎ June 18, 2024

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 464 pages